Ezekiel Weatherby
Ezekiel 'Zeke' Weatherby, also known by the net handle ØZ-Myth is a freelance cyber-mercenary, starting his career as a blackhat hacker, before moving to mercenary work, and rising to conducting mercenary work in person, an act referred to as 'cyber-piracy', infiltrating a premises to hack systems in person. His notoriety has lead to him being on wanted lists in at least six sectors, and on ONI and UNSC Cyber-Warfare command watch lists. Biography Early Life Born on the world of New Carthage, to a lower middle-class family, Zeke was the son of Abe Weatherby, a software engineer, and Janice Webber, a officer secretary. The Youngest of three, Zeke grew up around computers, learning to use them from an early age. His eldest brother, Gabriel, fashioned himself as a self-styled 'hacktivist' and was a member of the net community 'NetHack'. Though this online group, Gabriel learned how to use premade scripts for cyber-subversion, and Zeke learned from him. Learning how to use these scripts, he gleefully attacked a local council network, unaware of the damage he dealt to their infrastructure. School Attending a local school, Zeke was regarded as a quiet and withdrawn boy, with little outstanding academic and physical skills, par two. These were Information Technology and gymnastics. Keeping to himself in school, he didn't make many friends, and instead spent most of his time in the computer labs. It was here, away from the purview of his family, and distant from the observations of teachers, that he began to study the scripts he used for cyber attacks, and began to study their components. Through many lunch breaks and school nights of studying, he learned how to construct his own scripts, and began to learn how to hack computers. He sharpened his teeth by hacking the school network, subverting control of the security systems for his own use, and in the process knocked the whole system off line for a day. Gleefully, he used it to his own ends, deleting internal files and leaking confidential ones. However, his flagrant disregard for the school's security programs resulted in a sizeable network gap, that was quickly tracked back to him. To avoid detection, he quickly altered the files to point to a group of students who had bullied him in weeks past. Through manipulating the data, he got them excluded from school, while he was free to return. Throughout his remaining school years, he would continue to bend security networks to his own end, tackling bigger and bigger targets. His moderate grades, and exceptional grades in IT, saw him selected for a prestigious computer college in the local area. His parents and teachers all pressured him into taking the position, and when Zeke got sick of it, he fled his home and school, not looking back. All Zeke wanted to do was live his life his own way. Runner Leaving the suburbs of New Arno, he headed into the city, imagining finding himself a living to be easy. He quickly found the opposite was true, and within two days he'd been robbed blind of everything except for his chatter and the clothes on his back. Desperate to try and get some cash, he tried to lift some off a guy on the street, and in the resulting debacle five thugs gave chase. Managing to nimbly escape through the allies of New Arno, he deftly leapt several tall fences and scaled a fire escape with ease. Whoever, his lack of direction resulted in him cornered on a roof. He was saved by the timely intervention of an older woman, who not only leapt from the adjacent roof, but managing to disarm and beat the five thugs with ease. Introducing herself as Patricia Mapp, she said she'd watched his little run from below and was impressed. If he felt like putting his life in danger, she could offer him a odd job. Initially unsure of it, he asked Mapp for more details, and she told him bluntly. Transporting illegal packages across the city, by hand. With no other work, he took Mapp up on her offer. Mapp trained the boy as a runner, teaching him to condition his body and mind for free running through the city. Already gifted with agility and dexterity, he was perfect for it. Mapp had him run a few packages, nothing major, teaching him to run as the crow flies. While taking him for a run across the rooftops in the south district, she initially told him to avoid a building belonging to Rochfort Financial, because of its heavy electronic security, but Zeke just laughed that away, and hacked his way into the building, then hacked his way back out. though she'd been impressed with Zeke so far, for the first time she was amazed by his skill, and saw great potential in him. Moving Up in the World Forays into Cyber-Mercenary Work Have Computer, Will Travel The Job To End All Jobs On The Run The Cyber-Pirate Physical Appearance Personality Ezekiel's personality can be seen as split between his online persona, and his real self. His online persona is filled with bravado, presenting himself as an indomitable spirit incapable of fear. Traipsing in and out of networks with a callous disregard for security, his online persona can come across as mischievous, or even malicious in his intent. He can also be extraordinarily cunning and manipulative when needed, and even claims to be performing his actions under a cause, or social injustice, though this usually masks his activities true purpose. Off the keyboard and in person, Zeke is a quiet and shy individual. Easily flustered and flummoxed by interpersonal relationships, he tends to mumble or stutter in person. Despite this, he's still somewhat mischievous in person, so he's somewhat more subtle and restrained in it. Zeke is trapped in an awkward world of wanting personal relationships with fellow human beings, but being so awkward and shy around them he can rarely form any meaningful relationships. To this end, he usually hovers at the edges of social groups, barely saying a word to anyone. Skills Zeke's first and foremost skill is that of a hacker. Since a young age, he's learned to exploit electronic networks to breach secure systems and manipulate security exploits. Starting as a 'script kiddie', use pre-made programs to hack into systems, before learning from scratch how to breach secure networks. This would grow into a sharply honed talent, specialising in network breaching and subversion. Counted among the elite ranks of wizard-class hackers, there's few networks that can keep him out, and he's become excellent at covering his trails, breaching firewalls without leaving a trace of an intrusion ever having occurred. Growing up in Mindoro, his natural speed, agility and stealth saw him find lucrative work as an illegal 'runner'. Since digital networks and postal channels were heavily monitored, it made it difficult to run information or packages without attracting undue attention, so some groups resorted to hiring free runners to carry parcels and communiques across rooftops and through alleys. Using his intuitive hacking skills to evade security systems and police, he become great at this, learning to weave through a dense urban environment with ease. During his time as a runner, his handler, Patricia Mapp, taught him a little hand to hand combat, intended to defend himself. A difficult student, her lessons nonetheless rubbed off, and he became proficient in hand to hand, learning to grapple larger opponents, break bones and even disarm a gunman. Later in life, when he moved to cyber-piracy, he was tutored by his mentor in combat. Yusuf Awais saw potential in the hacker, and showed him all the skills necessary for cyber-piracy. Through his tutelage he learned how to use and maintain firearms, how to bypass security systems in person, rather than by remote, how to move stealthily and evade detection, how to use hacking to attack and subvert public systems, and lastly how to use firearms to defend himself. While he never became a fearsome mercenary of deadly skill, he knew how to use weapons well enough to defend himself. While familiar with a wide variety of human electronic systems, in later years he started getting jobs in ex-Covenant space, and learned the base code to their computer systems, so he could learn to penetrate and their networks. While tricky to learn, Covenant network security was usually a joke, and through that he had a rough understanding of how to attack Forerunner networks, though their security systems were far more advanced, require much more effort to penetrate. While his hacking skills specialises in attacking networks remotely or through direct interface, he's often toyed with 'network tools', one use programs designed for specific purposes. Usually taking the form of viruses, or barrier programs, they're designed to attack specific infrastructure of a network, or perform specific tasks, usually to be used by himself on the fly, though he has sold them before for use, or been commissioned to code specific programs. Augmentations Zeke has bought, at some considerable expanse, a C-76 Arcturan Medical Neural Interface. A top of the line implant, it features four ports for hardline interfaces, a high speed internetwork connection, over two thousand individual nodes linked to his brain, a pair of cognitive enhancement chips that plug directly into his cerebellum, using hardware to increase his problem solving capabilities, and a wireless node, allowing him to remotely link to computer systems, and even 'radio telepathy'. The implant has an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and has a sophisticated network of firewalls, programmed by Zeke himself, using layers of intricate barrier programs and dummy barriers. Zeke has had cybernetic implants installed in his eyes, both fitted with Fairborne Industries Argus Model-P. Using thin, bioplastic lenses, they fit it with microscopic circuitry and implant it between layers of the eye. This lenses project a augmented reality display, patching into electronic systems and utilising image recognition technology, allowing him to use an extranet link to cross reference somebodies image in less than a second, or search an item. It also allows him to overlay floor plans or external sensor outputs. It also has a limited zoom function, allowing him to sharply few items at a distance. These implants are linked to the haptic implants in his fingers. His fingers feature a unusual and rare implant, referred to as a haptic touch implant. A microchip is embedded in the tips of his fingers that function both as a tracking element, and as a feedback control, giving the illusion of pressure when activated. When using his computers in the field, they link to his neural implants and his eye implants, projecting a keyboard visible only to himself through augmented reality. The implants in his fingertips track finger movements and hand gestures, allowing him to type on the illusionary keyboard, the inputs replicated on one of his computers. The feedback in the implants make it feel like he's typing on a very real keyboard. Armoury Samson & West Key-10 Auto: A small but deadly pistol, it uses next generation materials to keep down weight, and fires micro-rifle rounds, allowing Zeke to take on armoured targets without much fear. While they lack in stopping power, the sizeable magazine allows him to get plenty of shots off. It is fitted with a dual purpose laser sight/flashlight, and has a threaded barrel that can be fitted with a suppressor. CanTel Raptor III: The largest weapon he'll ever use, the CanTel Raptor III is a carbine-style submachine gun, arranged in a relatively common layout. Simple and robust, its lightweight and easy to control under fire. Firing the same mini-rifle rounds as his handgun, ammunition is rarely and issue, but stopping power is. Used sparingly, the compact weapon doesn't encumber him and can be hidden easily. Its fitted with a collapsing stock, a robust holo-tec sight and a flash light. For personal defence, he uses the Krueger M350. A hold-out style shotgun, its only marginally larger than a handgun. a short and easily concealed weapon, it is fitted with a six-shot cylinder, carrying 12 gauge shells. Robust and simple, the weapon uses a double action to provide a smooth rate of fire. It is usually used with a shortened barrel and fitted with a pistol grip and no stock, but suffers at range. The M350 is usually used at short range, to sweep a room of opponents. It can also fire non-lethal rounds like bean bags or taser shots. For close defence and non-lethal takedowns, he uses a Acheron Security Stun Baton. A telescoping baton, it can emit an electrical charge powerful to knock out a full grown man. Skilled with the instrument, he can use it to break bones and render even a armoured enemy helpless. For a standard job, Zeke uses a Nemisoft A134. One of the most powerful computers for its size, it fits comfortable on his wrist. With as much processing power and memory as most table top computers, its useful in day to day work. With a high definition holographic display, encrypted wireless and hardline ports, its a useful tool for most jobs. Zeke has personally programmed most of it, fitting it with a sophisticated array of firewalls and defence programs. He's also installed numerous programs of his own design for patching into systems, or attack networks. An excellent hacker tool, he never goes on a job without it. For more specialised tasks, he uses a custom built computer. Using a Dynel shell, its fitted with a GPU 67 motherboard and a stack of six central processors. It uses a liquid cooling system to keep it chilled during prolonged operations. The whole case is ruggedised and rather than using a traditional screen, it has a fold out holographic screen, and holographic keyboard. It has multiple ports for plugging it into external devices or ports, and has its own wireless system, utilising a metamaterial antennae to boost its range significantly. His computer has substantial processing power, and a number of programs for engaging in subversive cyber activity. It also has layer upon layer of defences to protect it, and who ever is using it, from reverse hacks. It also has remote functionality, so Zeke can operate it through his wrist computer, rather than in person. It usually comes hand in hand with a Dynel Immersiontech headset, allowing him to visualize data during net dives. When it comes to armour, Zeke is of the belief that less is more. Most of the time he doesnt' wear armour, but when he absolutely must, he uses a Watch Tower Inc ballistic vest, using a lightweight vest with small tile inserts. Lightweight and non-obtrusive, it protects him from low velocity body shots. This is teamed with pads on his elbows and knees, and shinpads made from a lightweight alloy, protecting him, usually while he spin kicks somebody in the head. When possible, he tries to wear protective ballistic glasses, which provide a small amount of protection from glancing blows of low velocity shards and protect him from bright flashes or blinding lasers. One last piece of gear Zeke has, to provide him an advantage in any job, is a Watch Tower 'Spider Line'. This small box uses synthetic spider silk to generate instant lines for rappelling or ascending. The synthetic fibres are wound on twin spools, with four nozzles capable of ejecting the fibres at high speed, accurate up to seventy metres. These cables are strong enough to hold the weight of three fully grown adults before breaking. He uses these to rapidly clear gaps, or make getaways. Gallery